Yasuhisa Mitani
Deputy Director General, Chugoku District Transport
Bureau, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport &Tourism

Helping to support the Maritime City of Onomichi Promotion Council inconjunction with the City of Onomichi itself is the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure,
Transport & Tourism's (MLIT) Chugoku District Transport Bureau. Deputy
Director General Yasuhisa Mitani believes that 'the Shimanami Coastal Highway
is a balanced maritime cluster,' referring to Onomichi, along with neighbors
Fukuyama and Mihara and Imabari on the opposite shore, and expressed
hopefulness with regard to Onomichi being able to do its part.
Kaiji Press: International competition is fierce in the shipbuilding industry. How do you
plan on overcoming this?
Yasuhisa Mitani: The MLIT put together a plan entitled, 'A Comprehensive
Newbuilding Policy – How to Remain a Top Shipbuilding Nation' in July 2011.
In that plan, the section entitled 'Boosting Order Volumes' states that it is necessary forthe entire maritime industry to put our heads together and come up with various
methods, while taking into consideration international environmental regulations.
Japan's shipbuilding industry excels in the area of energy-saving technology, so by
focusing on and improving in that area, we should be able to boost order volumes anddifferentiate ourselves.
The section entitled 'Developing New Markets and Businesses' talks about thetechnological development of offshore renewable energy, particularly the offshore windfarm category. These are floating structures, meaning the shipbuilding industry has alarge role to play. The MLIT also formulated technical standards for floating offshorewind power generation in April 2012. Moving forward, it will come up with safety
guidelines, which will put Japan in the lead in terms of international standardization of
floating offshore wind power generation facilities.
'Promoting Reorganization of the Industry' discusses the anticipated improvement incompetitiveness sparked by the spinoff of Japan Marine United, created by a merger
between IHI Marine United and Universal Shipbuilding.
KP: What are your thoughts on the Maritime City of Onomichi?
Mitani: The shipbuilding industry is an important core industry that makes up
approximately 30% of the production value of the entire manufacturing industry locatedin Onomichi. It is an industry with many, many supporting industries that will spur
production activity for all industries, including those located in areas surrounding
Onomichi. The competitiveness of its shipbuilding and marine equipment industries
will need to be boosted in the future in order to maintain and develop them into
industries that can support continued economic development of the city. The City ofOnomichi is also making active efforts to this end, including drawing up a Shipbuilding
Industry Promotion Vision of Onomichi City. There are very few examples of this sort ofthing in other regions. The Chugoku District Transport Bureau will provide as muchsupport as it can by cooperating with the City of Onomichi, as well as other relevantgroups and business operators.
KP: What is the importance of the Maritime City of Onomichi?
Mitani: Onomichi has historically blazed the path of development for the shipbuilding
industry in the Seto Inland Sea region, and has put together a balanced maritime
cluster of virtually all maritime industries, including not only the shipbuilding andmarine equipment industries, but also the shipping industry, education and humanresources

training

institutions,shipclassificationsocieties,

andgovernmentorganizations. In terms of the cluster's accomplishments, there are numerous
achievements and unique frameworks produced by Onomichi.
For example, the Innoshima Technical Center has been recognized as the 'Innoshima
Model of Human Resources Training'. The Onomichi Marine Institute's Japan Marine
Technical School has also begun Japan's first completely privatized Class 6 Licensed
Officer training program. Another of the Onomichi area's innovations is the Setouchi
Cycle-Cruise PASS, a program aimed at promoting cruise ships and is seeing asignificant increase in users.
KP: What are your hopes for the Maritime City of Onomichi?
Mitani: As a maritime city representative of Japan, I hope that the public and privatesectors continue to work together and make active efforts in all areas to create a hub
city for shipbuilding culture, as well as a sustainable and competitive shipbuilding
cluster core hub.
I want Onomichi to go forth with a spirit that should be a model for the whole nation as
it searches for solutions to the challenges it will face, all while keeping a wide
perspective that includes not only Onomichi, but also its two neighbors, Fukuyama andMihara, Imabari on the opposite shore, and even the entire Seto Inland Sea and all ofJapan. There is still a lot of growing room for this partnership. It would be great if
academic, industrial, and government officials could meet regularly and create a space
where they can freely exchange opinions and information on areas such as newtechnologies and new markets. The keyword here is 'partnership'.
The Promotion Vision points out the necessity of giving small and midsize corporations
the opportunity to acquire information pertaining to various systems of research anddevelopment. The Chugoku District Transport Bureau will make efforts to have suchinformation available.